A Renaissance Marriage: The Political and Personal Alliance of Isabella d'Este and Francesco Gonzaga, 1490-1519

221 Pages·2020·1.434 MB·English

by  Carolyn James

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A Renaissance Marriage
OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 26/11/19, SPi
OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 26/11/19, SPi
A Renaissance Marriage
The Political and Personal Alliance of
Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga,
1490–1519
CAROLYN JAMES
1
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1
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ISBN 978–0–19–968121–1
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780199681211.001.0001
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Acknowledgements
The research on which this book is based was begun during a year-long fellowship
in 2001–2 at Villa I Tatti, the Harvard University Centre for Italian Renaissance
Studies in Florence, then under the directorship of the late Walter Kaiser. A number
of fellows became firm friends, especially Deanna Shemek, who was embarking
on her own studies of Isabella d’Este that academic year, and whose marvellous
English translations of a large selection of Isabella’s letters, published in 2016,
I have used extensively here. The library at I Tatti was a crucial resource and
I wish to acknowledge the help of Michael Rocke, Kathy Bosi, and Ilaria della
Monica. The fellowship permitted me to make frequent trips to the Archivio di
Stato in Mantua, where I received unfailingly courteous and unstinting help from
the former director, Daniela Ferrari, and her staff, including the current director,
Luisa Onesta Tamassia. I also worked at the Archivio di Stato in Modena and
Milan. I encountered friendly and very helpful archivists in both places. I have
returned to these archives many times and to the Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence,
helped by the award of an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (2006–9),
which permitted me to continue to gather new material and to develop what
had become a very large project. The Cassamarca Foundation of Treviso also con-
tributed to the completion of this book through its financial support of my
appointment at Monash University. When I was not able to travel to Italy, the
Louis Matheson Library at Monash University, especially its interlibrary loan
department, has been central to my ability to gain access to secondary sources not
held in Australia. Claudia de Salvo was indefatigable in tracking down books and
articles that I needed.
I am most fortunate in having scholarly colleagues such as Molly Bourne,
who shared her research on Francesco Gonzaga, and Deanna Shemek, whose
knowledge of Isabella d’Este’s life is formidable indeed. Both scholars read this
book in draft and offered helpful suggestions for its improvement. I am grateful,
too, to Sarah Cockram, whose monograph, Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga:
Power Sharing at the Italian Renaissance Court (2013), has many themes in common
with mine. Deanna Shemek, along with Anne MacNeil and Daniela Ferrari, direct
the digital platform IDEA, Isabella d’Este’s Archive, which makes available images of
all the letters preserved in Isabella’s copialettere, and explores her music-making
and art patronage. See http://isabelladeste.web.unc.edu. This resource was still in
development while I was researching the present book, but its riches will facilitate
many new studies by other scholars.
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vi Acknowledgements
I wish also to acknowledge the help of colleagues in Australia such as Barbara
Caine, Clare Monagle, David Garrioch, Pauline Nestor, Diana Barnes, Constant
Mews, and Kathleen Neal, with whom I collaborated on an Australian Research
Council Discovery Grant, which investigated the history of women’s letter-writing
practices from the late medieval period to the twentieth century. That project has
informed the present monograph from a methodological perspective. Adam
Clulow read the entire manuscript of the book in draft and offered many valuable
suggestions. Jessica O’Leary helped me with research assistance and has been a
wonderful collaborator throughout her graduate studies at Monash University.
Annamaria and Antonio Pagliaro provided advice about how to translate into
English some of the more difficult passages in the letters of Francesco and Isabella
and I am grateful for the friendship they have offered over many years, especially
in the dark days of my husband Bill Kent’s illness and premature death, when
work on this book had to be largely set aside. Other scholars such as Alison
Brown, Nerida Newbigin, Camilla Russell, and Glenda Sluga have all assisted my
research in various ways.
My children James and Antonia Kent and my stepdaughter Margaret Kent have
been important sources of support and I thank them for their forbearance in
tolerating the many years of work that this book has entailed. I dedicate the book
to them.
OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 26/11/19, SPi
Contents
Illustrations ix
Abbreviations xi
Family Tree of the Este and Gonzaga Families xvi
Introduction 1
1. Betrothal 11
2. Building a Spousal Relationship 27
3. The Crafting of Identity and the Division of Political Labour 52
4. Parallel Aspirations: First Fruits 73
5. Risk-Taking and Risk Management 92
6. Parenthood and Politics 113
7. Years of Crisis 134
8. A Mind of Her Own 159
Conclusion 185
Bibliography 189
Index 199
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Illustrations
1. Francesco Gonzaga to Isabella d’Este, 11 March 1513, from Mantua, ASMn,
AG, 2120, c. 36. xiii
2. Isabella d’Este to Francesco Gonzaga, 13 March 1513, from Piacenza, ASMn,
AG, 2120, cc. 116r–v. xiv